Chemistry
by cam94509
Summary: Dakari, Takari, ... I'm really not up for writing a summary right now.
1. Choices

Chemistry:

Chapter 1: Choices:

A/N: Originally, I named each chapter after a chemical reaction… Then, I realized how stupid it sounded, and I went back to my normal naming style.

_**K**_ari Kamiya hesitated in front of her high school. It was the day of the school dance, and she almost wanted to simply turn around and walk home. She was almost certain that T.K, the boy she crushed on, wouldn't ask her out, and that Davis, who… well, she wasn't really sure what she felt about Davis anymore, would. Davis had changed. He'd used to be annoying, immature, and… well, he wouldn't leave her alone. He'd grown up a lot, though. He'd gone from being a nuisance to being a friend she could rely on. He was probably more reliable than T.K, although she chose to rely on T.K, because… well, she had a crush on him.

She sighed, pushed the door open, and saw T.K flirting with some random girl. She felt a surge of jealousy and hatred run through her… T.K never seemed to notice her anymore. He'd become too absorbed in his popularity to talk to Kari, who wasn't hated by the other kids at school, nor really liked. She wasn't really noticed at all.

Unlike T.K, she wasn't good looking. She wasn't clever. She wasn't funny. She wasn't something of a star at sports, or at anything, for that matter. You had to be special to be noticed, and she wasn't special.

But he was. And he ENJOYED it. He reveled in his newfound popularity, and spent less time with her as a result. He still spent some time with her, although rarely publicly, and so she was stuck with Davis. Davis, who wasn't annoying anymore, but still wasn't T.K… Who, Kari admitted to herself, she liked partly because he was something special. Because he was something fantastic and amazing and heroic… and that because she liked him, she tried DESPERATLY to overcome the fact that much of his bravado and showiness was hollow. It wasn't what T.K. was like away from others, nor was it what he had ever been away from others. He was insecure to an extent, and this power was his way of coping.

If T.K lived a lie, Davis lived the truth… And told it. A little too much, perhaps, but he told the truth. He was willing to tell you what he really thought if you asked him, even if that was 'That has to be the dumbest idea I have EVER heard.' He'd gone from the back of the class to being taking a few honors classes, and while he was still athletic, he spent less time working out, and more time doing his work. He dreamed of opening a business. It was so different from what he once was, that Kari had trouble remembering that she didn't have to avoid Davis.

Davis often noticed that she was avoiding him, but rather than following her, he just left her alone… She knew he still liked her, and he made that clear on odd occasions, perhaps just to show that, if she ever changed her mind, he was there, but he wasn't actively hitting on her anymore.

Deep in thought, Kari bumped into another girl in the hallway, who dropped her books in surprise.

"Sorry!" Kari said, promptly trying to help the girl pick up her books.

She noticed that a third person had stopped to help, and after all of the random textbooks and novels and random sheets of notebook paper were picked up, the girl thanked her, and she was turned to the third person, knowing exactly who it was.

"Hello, Davis." She said, smiling.

"Good morning, Kari." He said, smiling in response, and pausing for a moment before continuing, "You're probably going to say no, but I wanted to ask anyway… Do you want to go to the dance with me?"

She'd known it was coming. And she'd made her decision, "Sure."

T.K wasn't going to ask anyway and Davis… Well, Davis was nice, he was cute… She didn't feel half as strongly for him as she did for T.K, but she did having feelings for him.

"Uh… Cool." Davis said, taken off guard slightly, "Well then, I'll see you there."

And with that, he left Kari, who was still thinking over the day, and hoping that she was right about T.K NOT asking… It would be awkward if he asked… She'd say that she wished she could, and that next time he should ask again, but that this time she already had a date. But really, he might still take that wrong. Well, she'd ask him if he asked her. But she knew it was irrelevant.

He had no feelings for her, and she knew that. The thought was depressing, even though she had an almost equally good boyfriend anyway.

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_**T**_.K. Takashi frowned. He didn't have a date for the upcoming dance… He could ask another random cute girl, but really, he knew he was going to have to ask the girl he really cared about.

The one girl who he wasn't sure who the answer would be: Kari Kamiya. He'd been avoiding her, hoping the crush would pass and they could be just friends, because really, he didn't want to risk the friendship, his one chance to be _him_ was when he was around her, something he valued deeply. He didn't want to be who everyone else wanted him to be all the time and he couldn't do it unless he could let it all go occasionally.

But the crush hadn't passed, and he was faced with a crux:

Risk the friendship because she would feel awkward or they would break up, and ask her, or risk the friendship because she would be angry because he was avoiding her, and think it was because he didn't think highly of her, like some of his friends… and like how he acted around some of his friends who hated her. He'd sworn to himself he'd stop that, but somehow, he just found himself agreeing with them.

He laughed as he imagined their faces when they found out he had a crush on her, and someone in the hallway looked at him like he was crazy. He ignored them, and continued on to his first class, sitting down right next to Kari.

"What's up with you today?" She asked, looking slightly suspicious of him, "You NEVER sit next to me in class."

"Kari, I have a question."

"What."

"Would you like to go to the dance with me today?"

"T.K…" She paused, "I'd love to, but I can't."

"Why?" He asked, "Doing something else?"

"No, going with someone else already… next time, T.K." She said it like a promise rather than like a maybe.

"Why don't you just cancel on him?" He asked, not asking who 'he' was. He figured he knew, it was probably Davis.

"It wouldn't be fair to Davis, you know that." She said, making it very clear that she knew he'd guessed who it was.

"Yeah, I guess not. Well, next time then."

"Next time" She agreed.


	2. School Day

Chapter 2: School Day

A/N: I introduce my first OC in this chapter: Jenna. I'm worried that this chapter might be a little bit choppy.

_**T**_.K. Takashi sat there, next to the girl who had just turned him down in a way that thrilled him. She DID like him. She'd told him "Next time." Sure, he'd have to wait a few more months. He'd already waited a few _years_, though, so a few more months would be nothing… Well, not NOTHING, but he could handle it.

Meanwhile, Kari Kamiya wasn't so thrilled. She'd turned the boy of her dreams down because she'd promised another boy that she'd be there. She kept having to tell herself that no, she would not cancel on Davis.

Neither of them was concentrating on the class… They were thinking about one another, even though T.K wasn't looking at Kari because he was lost in his reveling, and Kari wasn't looking at T.K, because she was too afraid to see if she'd hurt his feelings.

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_**D**_avis wasn't sure what to think. He knew she didn't like him and that she had only said 'yes' because T.K hadn't asked her yet… and he knew it was only a matter of time before he did ask. And what would she say if he did ask?

He hoped she wouldn't tell him 'yes.'… After all, she _was_ dating him. But if she said 'no', it would hurt her, both directly in turning T.K down, and indirectly through that it would hurt T.K, and… Davis loved Kari. He didn't want her hurt, not even for him.

But… She'd said YES! The pure and total exhilaration of this nearly pushed the gloomy shroud of 'only a matter of time' out of his mind entirely. As he sat down in his first class, honors bio-chem, he was totally unable to pay any attention to his least favorite subject.

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_**K**_ari had P.E. next period. P.E, also known as 'harassment 101'. Because that was all kids ever learned in P.E… How to harass one another. Both the behavior typically referred to as 'bullying' and also sexual harassment were common in P.E.

As she changed into the P.E. uniforms (which weren't half as awful as everyone pretended… They were fine, although they _were_ ugly), she felt lucky that today the teacher would be introducing a new unit. Tennis.

The teacher would describe the normally moderately interesting game in great, boring detail, and then tell them that the school would provide rackets (the students would almost all bring their own, the school rackets were AWFUL.)

Since she knew every word the teacher would say, she would be able to daydream instead of pay attention, which was good. As she lined up with the other kids so that the teacher could take roll simply by walking down the line and checking the names on their P.E. shirts, one of the boys walked up to her.

"Do you want to go to the dance with me?" He asked sarcastically, "I mean, normally I don't ask ugly girls, but I pity you."

Some of the other boys in line laughed at this, and Kari just barely managed to keep her temper under control, "Sorry, but I've already got a date", she said coldly.

"Who is she?" The boy asked mockingly.

"Alright, you know perfectly well this isn't funny." Ken Ichi-Joji told the boy who was teasing her, "Leave her alone."

"Is she dating YOU, nerd?" The boy asked.

"No, you know who I'm dating."

"Oh, that's right… You're dating the psycho, Jenna."

"She's not a psycho, she's ADHD… And you know that, seeing as how, when she's medicated, she acts like anyone else." Ken said.

Luckily for Ken and Kari, the gym teacher finally left the locker room to take role. From here, class was much as Kari had predicted: Dull. She was glad it was dull, though. It gave her a chance to think.

By the end of the class period, though, she didn't really want dull anymore. She was starting to dread the dance, not because of who she would be dancing with, but rather because of who she WOULDN'T be dancing with.

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_**T**_akeru exited his math class, bored out of his mind by his teachers senseless droning, and trying not to think of what the dance would be like. He would show up, otherwise Kari would think that he hadn't shown up on her account (She'd be right, too). But… he was jealous even now, thinking about the fact that Davis would be with Kari. Davis, and not him.

He could only imagine how jealous he would be having to watch it… or even know that it was going on.

_Well,_ he thought, _if I'm going to be jealous, then so is she._

It was a silly plan. It wasn't her fault that she had told Davis 'yes'… Well, it was her _fault_, but she hadn't done anything _wrong_, per say. Still, it was somehow fulfilling in his head, getting vengeance… ridiculous as getting said vengeance might be.

He'd dance with someone else, every time there was a slow song… It would make her just as jealous to watch him dancing with whoever else as it would make him watching Kari dance with Davis.

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_**T**_he rest of the school day passed mostly uneventfully, much to Kari's dismay. As she finally began her walk home, she realized that she would have four more hours of boredom at home before she got to leave for the dance.

_Four more hours. _She thought _then I get to get it over with… Just one more depressing, boring dance. Just one more. _

Somehow, this way of thinking about it made it easier to bare. Sure, she'd have to put up with her first high school dance being just like all of her junior high dances had been: Boring, jealousy filled, and actually slightly depressing, but the rest wouldn't.

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_**D**_avis knew that this was the time he'd ever get to go with Kari to almost anything. If T.K hadn't already asked her, he'd ask her to something after this. He knew that he would have to move on.

Move on. The thing he'd tried to do so many times. The thing he'd always failed at. Still, he knew he would have to. But for today, he didn't have to try. A single days respite from hundreds of days of toil and pain.


	3. The Wait

Chapter 3: The wait

A/N: ROFL, you already know who the second OC is, although you may not remember it from the last chapter.

_6:45 PM:_

_**T**_he cold night air bit at Kari's cheek. For the moment, the area in front of the school was mostly empty. It wouldn't be for long. She hoping that T.K would arrive before Davis, because she knew she had promised her attention to Davis, for the evening, at least.

She didn't think it was likely… She wouldn't even have bet on T.K's arrival. She knew that tonight was going to hurt for the boy she liked, so that Davis could have what she had agreed too.

_Why am I doing this anyway? _She asked herself, _If this is going to wreck the dance for me, why don't I just tell Davis that I'm canceling on him, that someone else has asked? He'll understand. _

But she knew why she wasn't canceling. She liked Davis, too. And much as she preferred T.K, seeing Davis hurt would wreck the dance for her, too. She'd rather not wreck it for Davis, as well. And while it might wreck this ONE night for T.K, this was probably the only chance she'd give Davis.

As it turned out, though, her hopes turned out to be reasonable, as T.K showed up before Davis.

He walked over to her, smiling as if he were plotting something.

"What are you plotting?" Kari asked.

"Nothing" T.K answered, still smirking

"Honestly, I can TELL you are plotting something, spit it out." She said

"You'll see." He said with a laugh.

Kari rolled her eyes. It clearly had to do with her, so it was probably his idea of vengeance… for making him jealous, since she knew he couldn't care less about the wait. She didn't really care; there wasn't much that he was could and would do that would hurt her, and even less that he would do intentionally, "Whatever. Anyway, what's new?"

"Nothing. The homework for the weekend is boring, and there is too much of it, as always, and that's about all that is really vaguely new since you last talked to me. You?"

"Nothing her either. I'm already DONE with my homework for the weekend." She said.

"No need to rub it in." He said.

"I'm not" She said, and then after a short pause, she launched into the topic they had both been avoiding out of concern for each others feelings, "This dance is going to be awful."

"Then tell him you changed your mind."

"And wreck the evening for him?" Kari asked, slightly pointedly.

"Better him than you." T.K said.

"T.K... It's going to be a wreck for me either way. I either wreck the evening for him, or I have to spend the dance with him rather than you."

"Kari... You're hurting me, too, you know." He said.

"Damn it, I know that!" She said, hurt by his insensitivity, "I have to choose between hurting you, or devastating him. Believe it or not, I like him, as well... And although I like you more, I was hoping you'd understand, that way I didn't have to feel GUILTY on top of everything else."

"I'm sorry." T.K said, "I... wasn't thinking."

The area in front of the doors to the school had begun to fill, and so the two reluctantly ended their conversation, knowing that Davis would show soon, and trying not to wreck the dance for him if he figured out this was the only date he'd ever get with Kari.

Both KNEW that Davis knew, but they didn't feel the need to rub it in.

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_5 minutes later: _

The area in front of the school was now crowded, with excited teenagers trying to push and shove their way to the door, never mind that it would only take a couple minutes to get into the school whether you were at the front or at the back.

Davis and Kari stood side by side, Kari faking a smile, although it wasn't as difficult for her as she thought it would be, because the evening wouldn't be that bad.

T.K stood alone, watching Kari. The way she'd snapped at him had surprised him, and it made him feel really guilty. Here, she had been relying on him to make this easy for her, and he had failed. He knew, as well, that he couldn't get away with what he had been plotting... She'd be REALLY angry.

Yolie was with her date, a boy by the name of Johnathan. To be honest, she didn't like him at all. But she was trying to avoid admitting to Ken how she felt about him... She was so sure that a relationship would be awkward becuase of what he'd done.

Ken was with his date, Jenna. He liked Jenna, but only as a friend. She was a fine person, and she really didn't deserve the way her peers treated her.... It wasn't her fault her mother refused to medicate her on the days she had custody, because she felt that 'discipline' could do it. All the same, he wasn't going to dump her. Jenna didn't know who he'd been, and the only girl he liked DID. And he was sure that it would make a relationship with Yolie awkward.

The doors finally opened, and the school's ASB stood behind the door to greet everyone, and to make sure everyone was actually supposed to be there.


	4. Dance Part 1

Chapter 4: Dance (Part 1):

A/N: This chapter doesn't feel as good, but I NEED to get something published, I'm having trouble with it for some reason... It's hard for me to focus on it! It's really weird, but I need to keep going anyway, and hopefully the next chapter won't be as hard.

T.K was jealous. He was angry. But mostly, he felt like a jerk. The jealousy and the anger made the guilt worse. Kari could tell she'd made him feel bad. She didn't know why she knew, she just _did_. She hadn't even meant to be paying attention to him, but when she thought that Davis was looking elsewhere; her attention always seemed to fall to T.K.

Davis noticed, but he pretended not to. He figured it was better to go with the flow, since this was likely to be the only time he ever got to be with Kari like this. It did hurt, he was jealous, but it was better than making her unhappy. The line, or more crowd, finally moved forward enough that Davis showed the ASB President his wristband, which was his ticket into the dance, and entered the school, Kari entered not to long after him.

The gym, where the dance was being held, was decorated to a theme. This time, the theme was 'polar', and there were enormous paper-cutouts that looked like, or at least were supposed to look like, glaciers. The music was some crappy pop song, and the room was dimly lit. There was a table in the hallway leading out of the gym behind which a member of the ASB was selling pizza and soda.

The chaotic, festive environment just made T.K feel even more down. He felt that his guilt was causing him to miss the fun. Irrational as it was, this turned guilt to depression. Meanwhile, half way across the across the gym, Kari ended a conversation with Davis, which had been mostly made up of, 'What? I can't hear you over the music!' and told him she'd be back for the first slow song. He smiled, and told her that he'd be where he was at the time when the slow-song started.

She walked across the gym, to where T.K was sitting, depressed.

"What's wrong?" She asked, worried.

"Nothing much. I'm just feeling like a complete jerk for what I said earlier, and it's making it hard to enjoy something that should be fun." He said, smiling slightly.

"Hey, don't go making ME feel bad!" She said, smiling slightly, "If it makes it easier for you, you're forgiven."

He laughed, and although Kari couldn't hear it, she knew that he'd laughed.

"Yeah, sure." He said.

The DJ announced that the next song would be a slow song, and Kari knew she had to go back to where Davis would be waiting.

"See you." She said, reluctant as she was.

"You too." T.K said, equally reluctant, but feeling much better than before.

Kari walked to back to where Davis was waiting.

"Hey, Davis." She said.

"Hey, Kari!" He KNEW who she'd been talking to. He knew perfectly well that it wouldn't be long before she dumped him... or she started cheating on him. But he didn't want to start that fight now, so he acted cheerful... Plus, he wanted her to be happy, but he didn't exactly want to give her up just yet.

From across the gym and through the crowd, T.K was watching, feeling more jealous and less guilty. As the music changed, he wished he could be the one with his hand on Kari's shoulder, wished that HE could be the one dancing with her, the girl of his dreams.

Kari might have enjoyed dancing with Davis... if it weren't for the constant reminder of someone she wanted so much more. She could see T.K, who was watching, looking vaguely angry, from across the gym.

He turned away, and left for the hallway in which the ASB was selling food. He bought a slice of pizza, more as an excuse to drag himself away from Kari than anything else. The hallway was less full, less zany.

In this less chaotic environment, T.K managed to regain some semblance of control of himself. He knew that he needed to pay less attention to Kari when she was with Davis, it only hurt him to pay attention to them, and he knew that her constant awareness of him was making it hard for Kari to pretend for Davis.

As the music changed, he re-entered the dance hall, wishing he'd chosen not to show in the first place.


End file.
